If Clean Line's "Code of Conduct for Land Agents" was any more than window dressing, landowner reports of harassment by Clean Line land agents wouldn't keep happening. It's nothing but a piece of paper Clean Line uses as a fig leaf to cover its transgressions.Who enforces the "Code?" Clean Line says it does. How is this enforcement undertaken? Nobody knows. Despite continual public statements that Clean Line doesn't condone the kind of behavior that has been reported by landowners over and over again, there's never any obvious "enforcement," and the company's agents simply continue harassing landowners.

Read Mary Horsechief's entire Letter to the Editor here.This isn't the first report of heavy-handed Clean Line land agent tactics, and I doubt it will be the last. There's something wrong with the company doing Clean Line's land acquisitions. They're not abiding by the Code of Conduct. What's the punishment? Judging from the continuation of this behavior... there is no punishment. If you had contracted a company to do a job, given them a set of rules, and then the company systematically violated those rules and caused your company bad will in the community that could ultimately derail your entire project, would you fire them? I would.Instead, Clean Line keeps making excuses for this kind of behavior and pretending it's doing something about it. Oh, poppycock, Mario! Actions speak louder than words!However, the "Land Agent Code of Conduct" is an old transmission owner trick that has been recycled again and again. In fact, Clean Line's "code" was plagiarized nearly word for word from previous "Codes of Conduct" used by Allegheny Energy for its TrAIL and PATH projects. In its original form on the TrAIL project, the "Code" was enforceable by the court. The very idea that the company responsible for these transgressions would police itself is ludicrous!In addition, Mario goes on and on disseminating his "facts" about how his project won't have health effects and will provide "opportunities" for landowners. He's preaching to the choir. No matter how many times Clean Line repeats this mantra, nobody believes it. A company selling the benefits of its own project is ALWAYS suspected of dishonesty and bias from its public. There is no amount of "information" from the company that's going to turn public opinion. It's just not going to happen.Here's what's actually happening... a fantastically researched and fairly presented story about Clean Line from NPR, Big Wind Blowing Through North Arkansas. Give it a listen.The jig is up, Clean Line!

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About the Author

Keryn Newman blogs here at StopPATH WV about energy issues, transmission policy, misguided regulation, our greedy energy companies and their corporate spin.In 2008, AEP & Allegheny Energy's PATH joint venture used their transmission line routing etch-a-sketch to draw a 765kV line across the street from her house. Oooops! And the rest is history.

AboutStopPATH Blog

StopPATH Blog began as a forum for information and opinion about the PATH transmission project. The PATH project was abandoned in 2012, however, this blog was not.

StopPATH Blog continues to bring you energy policy news and opinion from a consumer's point of view. If it's sometimes snarky and oftentimes irreverent, just remember that the truth isn't pretty. People come here because they want the truth, instead of the usual dreadful lies this industry continues to tell itself. If you keep reading, I'll keep writing.